Apparatus for forming bags



Aug. 17, 1943. T. B. DALTON ETAL APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Filed April 24, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 17, 1943. T. B. DALTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Filed April 24, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 H r0 s dwm R52 Y 04. E MW MW E.J VHO m m m T Z A a7 m 1943. T, B. DALTON ET 2,326,931

APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Filed April 24, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Aug. 17, 1943.

T. B. DALTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Fi led April 24, 1940 6 She ts-Sheet 4 1&0 1% 157 9 ii rauhmh i 0:13 1 i i Will m mum 146 a i i 10 I! lllu 424 llllllllllll 98 F r 122 I] 16 VA A ATTORNEY Aug. 17, 1943. T. B. DALTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Filed April 24, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 H r? Ll Mum 2269 11" MHHIIIIIIHIH (3 CE! I IN I IIIIHHIHHI @z av77mmas BJa/iwz fin R N EY Aug. 17, 1943. T. B. DALTON ET AL APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Filed April 24, 1940 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR- 'jfal ah 1i ii kzsmr BYT/mmas B. fla Zion /4 M 1; ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 17, 1943 APPARATUS FOR FORMING BAGS Thomas B. lJalton and Ralph H. .Weisner, Orange, N. J., assignors to Reynolds Metals Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Application April 24, 1940, Serial No. 331,340

6 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of bags, envelopes, or like containers, and more particularly to improved apparatus for the high speed production of open mouth bags in variable sizes from a single web of material having a heat-fusible surface, wherein the single stripe is folded upon itself and bags formed by successive longitudinal edge sealing, cooling, and cutting operations, and the invention primarily is directed to apparatus for the formation of metal foil bags having face to face longitudinal marginal seals wherein the metal foil stock has laminated thereto, or is coated with, a heat fusible sealing material adapted to strengthen the foil and to render the bag siftproof, and impervious to air and moisture.

The present invention does not include any steps directed to sealing the bags or closing the open mouths of the bags after sealing, as these operations may be accomplished by conventional mechanisms.

In the art of manufacturingbags, it has been standard practice to form elongated bag tubes, cut into desired lengths and thereafter to form bags therefrom by sealing the bottoms, but at least with certain types of stock, the sealing of the bottom of the bag has presented serious difficulties.

' Also, it has been standard practice to bring together two plies of heat fusible coated material into superimposed relation and to form longitudinal and transverse seal areas in the material by means of heating rollers, thereafter producing three edges by continuous operations; but at least with certain types of stock, imperfect edge seals resulted, because in an effort to attain speed,- the bags were formed continuously, and the sealing rollers were permittedto contact the heat fusible stock for too shorta period.

The prior art methods do not provide with a high speed production of bags with a folded bottom, having definite and positive longitudinal edge seals, nor is apparatus suggested which permits the production upon a single machine of a wide range of bag sizes, variable as to both width and height, and also variable as to a projecting lip portion at the mouths of the bag.

Accordingly, it is an object of our invention to provide a new apparatus for the manufacture of sift-proof, relatively air and water impervious bags o'r like containers, from a single web of material wherein the bottom of the bag is not sealed but is formed by a fold in the material and wherein the longitudinal side seams of the bag are formed by means of a face to face contact and seal of the heat fusible, lacquered or laminated stock.

Another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus for the manufacture of such containers which is adapted to advance the web intermittently, thereby allowing time for an ef ficient and positive sealing step and which is also adapted to maintain tension upon the web at all times during the forming operations, thereby permitting high speed intermittent operation.

Another object of our invention is the provision of a cooling means to cool the seal obtained by a heat sealing means, thereby also affording high speed operation.

Another object of our invention is the provision of apparatus for the'manufacture of bags as described, which, by means of simple machine adjustments, permits the production, from one machine, of bags which vary in width and in height, and which also vary in the amount of projecting lip.

Another object of our invention is the provision of both manual and automatic registering mechanism for speeding up or retarding the feed of the web to successive sealing, cooling and cutting mechanism, thereby assuring, in any one production run of apparatus, bags of uniform size, with printed exteriors, having the printing in registered position.

It is a further object of our invention to provide a simple apparatus carrying out the above stated objects wherein the parts are so formed and associated and synchronized that high speed production of vast quantities of uniform bags is assured without machine diiliculties or frequent attention by an operator.

These and other objects of our present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, which latter are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed as limiting the invention or the apparatus which may be used therewith. 'In the drawings, like numerals refer to like parts throughout.

Referring'to the drawingsi Fig. 1 is a plan view of the entire machine;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the web;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a skeleton perspective of the feeding rolls; heat sealing and cooling and cutting units;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section taken on the line 0-0 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary end elevation of the machine looking at the cutting end;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical cross section through the feeding mils;

Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross section on the line Fig. 9 is the top plan view of the web aligning device;

Fig. 10 is a section on. the line I0--I0 of the Fig. 11 is a section taken'on the line II-II of the Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the machine showing a photo-electric cell energized solenoid and associated mechanism for control of the web feeding means;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary section taken along the line I0I0 of the Fig. 12 showing the supporting means of the photo-electric cell and its positioning in respect to the web;

Fig. 14 is a section taken on a line Il-ll of Fig. 12;

Fig. 15 is a detailed section of a cam mounted upon the main driving shaft and a switch associated therewith for closing the photo-electric cell circuit.

Fig. 16 is an electrical diagram of'the photoelectric circuit.

In these figures a bag forming web I0 is un- Figs. 1 and 3, is provided with a braking mechanism I0 and also a 'collar 20, with its cooperating flange 22 mounted upon stud 24 in order that the roller I2 is adjustable horizontally with relation to frame I0.

As indicated best in Fig. 3, the web I0 may be led over idler rollers 26, 20, 00, 32 to inclined forming table 00, which forming table places the web stock in face to face relation, and with one edge 38 of the material projecting beyond the other, if desired, as indicated at Fig. 2.

As will be easily understood, the horizontal position of the roller I2 in relation to the forming table 00 determines whether or not there will be a projecting. edge 00, or lip, and the amount thereof is adjustable by lateral adjustment of roller I2. The web I0 is advanced from the forming table 04 to the feeding rolls 30 and 40 (see Fig. 4 for diagrammatic illustration) to the elongated heat sealing plates 02 and X, to the cooling blocks 06 and 01, to the auxiliary feeding and tensioning rolls 0 and 00, and then to the cutting means 52.

It will be understood that the bag forming web I0 preferably comprises an outer layer of aluminum foil and an inner layer of heat fusible material such as rubber hydrochloride, commonly known as pliofllm, and that these two layers may be united by some suitable adhesive such as pliolite. A suitable web may be made of a lamination of .0006" aluminum foil united to a layer of .0014" rubber hydrochloride by means of .0002 pliolite adhesive.

Alternatively, the web I0 may be paper or any like material surface coated with any suitable heat fusible and heat sealing substance, as is well comprehended in the art, or the web might comprise heat fusible and sealing material alone,

or alternatively a sheet of base material such as paper or metal foil coated with a heat fusible and heat sealing substance coated thereon in predetermined and defined stripes. It is also within the purview of this invention to have predetermined portions of the web I0 preprlnted with an.

advertisement indicated as 50 in such manner that when the bags are formed, the advertisement will be in registered central position thereupon, and the means of registration therefor is an important feature of our invention.

As the web I0 is unwound from'roller I2 over idler roll 20, it is led past a tension device 50 which comprises two arms 20 pivotedly supported in frame I6 and an idler roll 00 journaled in the lower ends of said arms together with a spring 02, whereby the tension member 50 is adapted to take up any slack in the web I0 between the stock unwind roller I2 and the main feeding rollers 00 and 00, which latter will normally be provided with rubber surfaces.

The driving mechanism of the machine will now be described: A main driving shaft I82 may be driven by means of sprocket 00 and chain 00 connected to a motor or other source of power (not shown), and main sprocket gear 60 will normally have associated therewith a friction clutch 00, as indicated, controlled by clutch rod I0.v The clutching mechanism is regarded as conventional and 'so is not described in detail. By means of beveled gears 12 and I4, shaft 10 is rotated. Associated with shaft I0 is an eccentric drive mechanism I0 which imparts intermittent forward movement to the web I0 and which includes a circular plate member 00 mounted upon shaft I0 with a slot 02 therein for holding a block 00 adjustable in said slot. Block 00 is connected with drive rod 00.- Of course, the stroke of rod 06 may be adjusted by varying the position of block 00 in relationto the center of plate 00.

The eccentric drive rod 00 is pivotedly connected as at 00 to a yoke 00, which yoke is slidably mounted upon rods 02 and 04 and reciprocated forwardly and rearwardly thereon, as actuated by eccentric drive rod 00.

Slidably mounted within yoke 00 is block 00 which has connected thereto a rack 00, which rack forwardly drives main feed roll 00. Yoke 00 and slidable block 90 are connected to one another by means of the stud and spring assembly, identified generally as I00 and illustrated in Fig. 10, thereby permitting the yoke and the block to move substantially as a unit, but to hav relative movement within the limits of the length of the stud and the strength of the spring in spring and stud assembly I00; this relative movement permits the adjusting of the forward drive of the yoke as imparted to the block. This adjustability factor is taken advantage of by means of hand controlled mechanism indicated generally as I02, whereby handle I04 may be used to rotate shaft I06, thus actuating bevel gears I00 and III, threaded shaft III and gear II2 to advance or retract threaded rod Ill, which latter bears against slidable block 00, if desired, to shorten its travel in relation to yoke 00, thus having the eifect of cutting down the amount of forward movement of rack 00 in contrast with the stroke of eccentric rod 00.

A convenient feature included in the machine is a manual adjustment drive indicated generally as IIO which comprises hand operated shaft IIO connected by sprocket and a chain assembly I20 "to shaft 10. This assembly permits hand feedassess:

driven by the motor or when the clutch mechanism 88 is thrown out.

The feeding roll 48 cooperates with driven main feed roll 88 and the latter is driven by rack 88 by means of its cooperating gear I22 only forwardly by means'of conventional brake mechanism indicated generally at I24 (see detail in Fig. 8), and comprising spring actuated braking mechanism I28 operating in annular groove I28. The shaft I38 of main drive roll 38 will be positioned in suitable bracket mechanism I82 as shown. and if desired, the upper end of shaft I88 may also have a similar braking mechanism- I84, as indicated, which is similar to braking mechanism I24, thus assuring norearward slipping of web I8 when rack 88 is retracted.

As indicated best in Fig. 7. drive roll 48 cooperates with driven main roll 88, and its shaft I88 will spring tension towards shaft I38 of roll 88 by means of adjustable spring means indicated as I81, if desired. Also, as indicated, in Fig. I, manually operable cam means identified generally as I38, may be provided to throw roll 48 outwardly so as to thread web I8, or stop its forward drive. As indicated, shaft I88 of roll 48 may be provided with a gear I38 driven by gear I48 mounted upon shaft I88.

Auxiliary feeding and tensioning rolls 48 and 58 are positioned forwardly of the cooling means 48 and may be driven by a sprocket I42 connected by a chain I44 to a sprocket I46 mounted upon shaft I38.

An important feature of my invention is the provision of a slight over drive to the auxiliary feeding and tensioning rolls 48 and 58 (by adjusting the size of the sprocket) which insures tension upon the web in its passage between main drive rolls 88 and 48 and auxiliary rolls 48 and 88, thus preventing any slack in the web during the important sealing and cooling steps. Rolls 48 and 58, of course, since they are over-driven, are tensioned against each other only slightly so that they allow the web to slip after the web is well tautened by the rolls 48 and 58 and rolls 88 and 48. Rolls 48 and 58 will normally be rubber coated.

As best shown in Figs. 1, and 6. a plate bracket mechanism I48, as illustrated, may be appropriately secured to the frame I8, and the elongated plate member I58 thereof is disposed longitudinally of the machine. Heating element 44 is positioned upon plate I58 and may be secured thereto by a set screw I52 in such manner as to permit the longitudinal adjustment of heating element 44; cooling block 41 is similarly positioned upon plate I58 and in an adjustable fixed position, and is indicated in Fig. 1, and may be arranged with a spring cushioning arrangement I54, if desired, to cushion the contact of its cooperating cooling element 48. The cooling blocks 48 and 41 have appropriate hose connections indicated generally as I58 for the circulation of a cooling medium such as water.

A Cooperating with and in opposed relation to heating element 44 and cooling element 41 are provided heating element 42 and block 48 which are positioned upon and are longitudinalLv adjustable in respect to plate bracket member I58. The plate .bracket member I58 is arranged to reeiprocate to and from plat member I88 by means of a parallelogram mechanism of conventional design, which is identified generally as I88 and which includes bell crank arm I88 which latter I84, a contacting cam I88 therefor, which latter cam is mounted upon main drive shaft I82.

Cam I88 will be so arranged as to actuate plate bracket member I88 centrally of the machine dm'ing periods when web I8 is at rest and feed rolls 88 and 48 are not being driven; If desired,

the heating elements 42 and 44 may be electrically heated and thermostatically controlled (not shown) and together cooling blocks 48 and 41 will be so arranged in reference to reciprocating go and are arranged to actuate shearing members I 88 and I82 respectively, and shearing members I88 and I82 are respectively pivoted as at I84 to upper framing member I88, and furthermore, have at their upper ends rollers I88 and I98 respectively bearing against cams l 1.8 and I18.

As stated, drive shaft I82 actuates cutting means 52 and the latter and its associated parts above described are arranged so as to cut web I8 .when the same is at rest. The machine is preferably arranged so that there is one cutting movement after each forward movement of the rack 88, and the heating and cooling means will also be arranged to operate simultaneously with the cutting operation.

The cutting means 52 will be arranged to cut centrally of a relatively wide seal stri upon web I8, as indicated in Fig. 2, and it will, therefore, be realized that according to our invention, each sealing contact of sealing element 42 and 44 seals one longitudinal edge of two bags ultimately formed.

By this arrangement of parts and by means of keeping the cutting operation constant, the width of the bags may be varied by the amount of intermittent feed of the web I8, and byappropriate positioning of the longitudinally adjustable heat and cooling means. The height of the bags varies in accordance with the width of web I 8 within the limitations of the processing stations above described. A wide margin of adiustability for the widths of the bag is derived from the eccentric drive mechanism I8, as well as the subsidiary hand controlled forward drive adjustment mechanism I82.

If the web I8 is preprinted with advertisements 54, which will be centrally located upon the bags, as indicated in Fig. 2 or other indicia, we provide automatic photo-electric cell control adjusting means indicated generally as I92 for the automatic registration of the printing by means of a control of the intermittent web advance.

A suitable bracket I84 is positioned beneath forming table '84 and underneath web I8 and has adjustable support means I88 for photo-electric cell I88 and a light means 288 which latter members are so associated as to permit a light beam to emanate from light source 288 to reflect against the bright metal foil area adjacent the printed surface of the web, as indicated, and to actuate the sensitised photo-electric cell mechanism I86; if the light beam is on the printed material, the photo-electric cell is so arranged as not to be affected. By means of a cam 282 upon main drive shaft I, the electric circuit of the is provided with an eccentrically mo r0116! photo-electric cell I88 is only closed when the with cam face Iii. Cam face 2| 6 actuates an upwardly -spring tensioned member 2|! which latter is positioned upon yoke 80. Member 2|! has a depending metal strip flange 220 which may be about .025" in thickness, and these parts are so arranged that when the solenoid is energized, flange member 220 is thrust downwardly between the block 96 and threaded rod H4, thereby decreasing the amount of feed of the web by .025". This operation is repeated until proper registry is restored. Ordinarily, for example, we arrange'the eccentric drive mechanism so that there is a slight overfeed of web III, to the extent of .010" and accordingly, ,(depending upon the accuracy of the machine), after each three or four intermittent advances of the web, the automatic web registry means operates and cuts down the forward movement of the web by approximately .025".

It is also 'within the purview of our invention to include, additionally, in the machine above described, one ormore opposed pairs of heat elements, and if desired, cooperating cooling elements in such fashion that bags are formed having two or more pockets therein separated by a sealed strip.

An important practical working advantage. of the machine above described is that the bags are formed in up-right position with'the open mouth on top; this is contrary to the usual fiat bagforming methods, and permits auxiliary bag filling and sealing machinery to be located directly adjacent to the cutting means and it is within the purview. of our invention to include mechanical spring fingers or other gripping means to advance the bags, as formed, from the cutting station, directly filling the same by conventional filling apparatus and thereafter seal the top of the filled bags by a conventional hot plate mechanism, and the advantages of such simplified forming, filling and sealing mechanism will be readily recognized by those skilled in the art.

It will be realized that our invention essentially relates to a high speed apparatus adapted for the formation of variable sized bags, and that the apparatus includes means for intermittently feeding the web, thereby assuring sufiicient time for positive and eflicient heat sealing operations,

and that the heat seals effectuated by such heat sealing operations are preferably cooled by cooling means in order that the cutting operation may be accomplished at an increased speed.

It will be further realized that certain elements described in the illustrative form of our invention may be replaced by other elements either in whole or in part, and that certain steps described may be alternated or replaced by other equivalent steps in whole or in part, and that, therefore, the scope of our invention is limited only as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a machine for continuously forming open mouth bags having folded seamless bottoms and heat sealed edges from a single web of material having a heat fusible surface, the combination which includes a web retaining roller, adjustable and resilient means for intermittently withdrawing said-web from said roller, means for folding the web longitudinally so that portions of the web are in unsealed face to face relation, automatic means cooperating with said resilient means for varying the amount of the feed of the web, heating means to form sealed stripes transversely of the folded web, and separate cutting means arranged to cut the web centrally of said sealed stripes, thereby forming open mouth bags with said open mouths all facing in the same direction.

2. Ina machine for continuously forming open mouth bags having folded seamless bottoms and heat' sealed edges from a single web of material having'a heat fusible surface, the combination of an unwind mechanism for the web, means for adjustably advancing the web intermittently, heating, cooling, and cutting means adapted for simultaneously sealing, cooling and cutting the web during periods when the web is at rest, said means for adjustably advancing the web including main feed rolls, a yoke and sliding block arranged to move substantially in unison but to have an adjustable relative movement, an adjustable eccentric drive mechanism for reciprocating said yoke, a rack and gear means for driving said feed rolls connected to said block, and fine adjustment means for adjusting the relative positions of said yoke and block.

3. In a machine for continuously forming open mouth bags having folded seamless bottoms and heat sealed edges from a single web of material having a heat fusible surface, the combination of an unwind mechanism for the web, means for adjustably advancing the web intermittentl and maintaining the same under tension, heating, cooling, and cutting means adapted for simultaneously sealing, cooling and cutting the web during periods when the web is at rest, said means for adjustably advancing the web and maintaining the same under tension, including main feed rolls, a yoke and sliding block arranged to move substantially in unison butto have an adjustable relative movement, an eccentric drive mechanism for reciprocating said yoke, a rack and gear means for driving said feed rolls connected to said block, fine adjustment means for adjusting the relative position of said yoke and block, and auxiliary feed rolls positioned between the cooling and cutting means adapted to slightly over-feed the web as compared to said main feed means, thereby maintaining the web under tension.

4. In a machine for continuously forming open mouthed bags having folded seamless edges from a single web of material having a heat fusible surface, the combination which include a webretaining roller. means for intermittently with drawing predetermined lengths of said web from said roller including a feed roller, a reciprocable device for imparting movements to said feed roller, an actuated carrier for said reciprocable device, the latter being slidable in the carrier, yieldable means intermediate the reciprocable device and the carrier and means for relatively moving the reciprocable device and the carrier preliminary to an activestro'ke of the latter, heating means to form sealed strip-like areas transversely of the folded web and separate cutting means adapted to cut the web centrally of said sealed strip, thereby forming open mouthed bags with the open bags all facing the same direction.

surface, the combination which includes a webretaining roller, means for intermittently withdrawing predetermined lengths of said web from said roller including a feed roller, a reciprocable device for imparting movements to said feed roller, an actuated carrier for said reciprocable device, the latter being slidable in the carrier, yieldable means intermediate the reciprocable device and the carrier and means for relatively moving the reciprocable device and the carrier preliminary to an active strok of the latter, heating means to form sealed strip-like areas transversely of the folded web, cooling means to cool the heat sealed strip areas, and separate cutting means adapted to cut the web centrally of the said sealed strip, thereby forming open mouthed bags with the open bags all facing the same direction.

6. In a machine for continuously forming open mouthed bags having folded seamless edges from a single web of material having a heat fusible surface, means for folding the web longitudinally so that portions of the web are in unsealed faceto-face relation, heating means to form sealed strip areas transversely of the folded web, and means for intermittently feeding said web from said roller which comprises a feed roller, and reciprocable driving means for said roller, said last named means comprising two relatively slidable members, the first member receiving a power stroke for delivery to the feed roller and the second member transmitting a power stroke from a source of power to the second member, a yielding connection intermediate said two members, and an adjustable stop device for limiting the movement of one of the members in a given direction whilst permitting continued movement of the second member in that direction.

RALPH H. WEISNER. THOMAS B. DALTON. 

